


My Love, My Prince

by propheticfire



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Developing Relationship, M/M, fluff (sort of), lots of exposition, one broken lonely man finds a husband in the unlikeliest of people, setting up the premise of this AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22753051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/propheticfire/pseuds/propheticfire
Summary: He’s not sure when he started calling Kasef “my love”. He’s never been one for pet names. He’s not sure how he even gothere. In Neolandia. Prince Consort of now King Kasef. The last year of his life has felt like a whirlwind.
Relationships: Kasef/Viren (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20
Collections: Prince Consort





	My Love, My Prince

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to several of my friends, including [artaline](https://archiveofourown.org/users/artaline), [prolixdreams](https://archiveofourown.org/users/prolixdreams) and [Lonespark_the_friendly_kraken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lonespark_the_friendly_kraken), for their conversations with me that helped birth these ideas and this AU.

He’s not sure when he started calling Kasef “my love”. He’s never been one for pet names.

But it feels so _right_ when it leaves his lips. And the way Kasef seems to shine whenever he says it…

Has his heart ever been this full before?

He’s not sure how he even got _here_. In Neolandia. Prince Consort of now King Kasef. The last year of his life has felt like a whirlwind. Flaring tensions, and a perceived threat, and a march into Xadia, and then…nothing. No threat. Nothing but the warmongering of a small group of sunfire elves and a handful of dragons. And the machinations of a ghostly apparition, whose honeyed words he’d finally stopped listening to. It had all seemed so anticlimactic. And yet everyone had been relieved to simply return home. Harrow’s boy Ezran had offered him pardon in return for the Crown. He’d taken the exchange. He was so tired. Of all of it.

But there was still Kasef.

The Prince had brought Neolandia’s war elephants to the march. Viren had been awestruck. Kasef had offered him a ride on the back of one, and he couldn’t possibly turn it down. He’d settled in behind Kasef, but he’d had no idea where to put his hands. It was nothing like riding a horse. Kasef had taken his arm then and neatly wrapped it around his waist. It had not been an intentionally intimate gesture. But the amount of _trust_ that the Prince had shown in him, without expecting anything in return, had nearly taken Viren’s breath away. When was the last time someone had not expected anything from him?

They’d discovered their similarities, riding together on the elephant. Both passionate, both driven, both willing to go to great lengths to do what was necessary for the good of their people. Both, they’d realized, having been drawn into this war under false pretenses. Kasef had raged at Viren over finding out that he’d been behind the shadow assassination attempt. But Viren had explained the inaction of the other kingdoms, the unwillingness to protect and defend. And Kasef, gods bless him, had actually understood. King Ahling had painted him as a foolish man child who wouldn’t eat his vegetables, but Viren had quickly come to see the shrewd and decisive leader that Kasef actually was.

And afterward, after they’d returned home, after he’d given up everything he’d known in Katolis, Kasef had invited him to Neolandia.

They’d gotten to know each other even better on that journey. Kasef had a hot head, but a warm heart, and, once earned, a fierce and generous affection. And he was intensely beautiful. Viren had felt himself falling. Unable to stop. It was Kasef who surprised him with engaging conversation. Who surprised him with thoughtful kindness. Who surprised him with their first kiss. Who surprised him with announcing to a recovered King Ahling once they’d reached Neolandia that he intended to marry Viren.

The words had sent him into a tailspin.

It had been nearly twenty years ago, that he’d had a very similar conversation, with a very different Prince.

It had not turned out well.

Kasef had knelt by him as the memories had swept over him in shaking anxiety. Gently pulled the story out of him, until he’d learned about Harrow and Sarai, and how Harrow’s choosing duty and an heir over Viren had shattered Viren like so much glass. Kasef had looked him in the eyes and said that it sounded like Viren’s Prince had chosen more than just duty over him. He’d wiped away Viren’s tears and promised him that Neolandia had no such laws about bloodline continuation, and even if they had, he would eradicate them, because there was no higher duty than love. He had vowed to never leave Viren behind. He’d said he _never_ breaks his word. And then he had kissed Viren, so softly.

A few months later, they’d been married.

The incredible, overwhelming joy he’d felt had been tempered somewhat by the passing of King Ahling not long after. To complications from illness, of all things. Even his dark magic had not been enough to save the King, and he’d tried, by the gods he’d tried this time. He’d held Kasef through his grief, and stood by him as he assumed the Neolandia throne.

And now here they are. Settled into something that, strange as it is for him to believe, is his new normal.

He’s _happy_. For the first time in a long time, he’s peacefully, contentedly happy. Kasef is everything to him. Thoughtful and kind and indulging. Treating Viren as an equal, and as a friend. All things he had almost given up hope of finding again. Kasef demands nothing of Viren except that Viren simply _be_ , without feeling any pressure to push himself anywhere near any breaking point ever again. He feels…safe, here, with Kasef. He loves Kasef. He really does.

He can’t call Kasef “my King”, though. That was—

That was how he’d addressed Harrow.

So the words “my love” find their way to his lips. He utters them every chance he gets. The way Kasef’s eyes light up when he hears them makes Viren’s heart stutter.

And Kasef has taken to calling him “my Prince”, in a tone so fond it also makes Viren’s heart stutter. It seems no matter what he does, he can’t stop the happiness from bubbling up inside him. And he doesn’t want to. After everything, he’s finally begun to feel whole again.

“My love,” Viren says one day, trying to get Kasef’s attention. Kasef turns to him, beaming, eyes radiating affection, and says, “Yes, my Prince.”

Viren’s heart flips. He forgets what he was going to say.


End file.
